it started as random ramblings (that I'm still blaming on Heddy) about life, guiding, Pax Lodge, knitting, postcards and whatever else spewed forth from my keyboard...it hasn't changed too much, except now J is part of our life. And well, I write a lot about her and not as much (as I used to) about those other things

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Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Let It Snow

As the credits for some syndicated North American "chick show" rolled past, everyone sighed. The guys (my uncle and my seven year old cousin) were thrilled the "chick show" was over; the girls (my aunt, my twelve year old cousin and me) had rested long enough after a meal of meat fondue to bundle up and go out for an after dinner walk.

It had been my strangest Christmas yet. It was only the second one I had spend away from my immediate family, and, different as it was, I think it was as close to spending Christmas at home as I would ever get without spending Christmas at home. We had Christmas dinner a day early. Santa had totally different traditions. It took us five hours to open a small pile of gifts - that part was lovely. Because I was in Switzerland and had to lug everything home to London, my gifts were small. There were more gifts than usual under my aunt and uncle's tree...I brought gifts and I received gifts. We spent a leisurely Christmas morning and afternoon opening gifts and savouring them. There was no turkey to cook. There were no guests coming to visit. There was no rush. We got to try everything, read a chapter of a new book, listen to a new CD before moving on to the next gift.

After our dinner of fondue and our post-dinner laze in front of a random (and probably not very good) North American TV show, we decided to go for that walk. Christmas day had been sunny and clear. Geneva had been a bit chilly, but nothing unbearable and it had been a green Christmas. We bundled up and wandered through the neighbourhood. My aunt and uncle lived in a neighbourhood made up of mostly apartments and many people had their lights blazing and curtains open. We had a great time making up stories about the various Christmas parties we saw.

I was happy with my second Christmas away...although I missed the snow, it was a lovely day.

And, just as we approached the front door, the snow started falling. A white Christmas after all...

stalkers ... oops ... i mean followers

looking for something?

the great book challenge

I decided I needed a challenge. With a toddler roaming our home, it's difficult to find a few minutes for teeth brushing let alone time to read a book. So I thought I'd start small and build. The first year I challenged myself to read at least one book a month, the second year it was two books a month. This year it's a book a week (or 52 books this year). And I'm writing about it over there on The Great Book Challenge site. And you are invited to join me!

project 365

Laurie introduced me to
Project 365 before Christmas 2006 and I managed to keep it up for FIVE whole years. But now I'm done. And I can't tell you how nice it is to not have to take a picture every day. You can see five years of life chronicled at Nanny Shanny's Project 365. Maybe one day I'll take up the project again, but for now, I'm enjoying living life not through a camera lens.

sunny days, keeping the clouds away....this page brought to you by the letters B and D and the colour redthe author takes all the credit for well-written posts (oops, how did I do that?) and takes no blame for poorly written, boring posts (must have been the elves!)